Category Archives: Home Decor

EDIT: I found the Nourison Fantasy Rug for cheaper on Amazon with free shipping! (keep reading if you’re lost…that’s an affiliate link, by the way, but it is absolutely the cheapest price I’ve found so far; the color is Aqua, and the 8X10.6 size is available right now. Also, don’t be fooled by the dull/ugly pics. It’s really bright in person).

First things first: we have been busy bees getting all of your Paint and Prose orders out (thank you!), but you still have until tomorrow at midnight to take advantage of our Buy 2 get 1 Free sale that includes all prints (even our brand new ones!).

For the most part, I have been limiting my house purchases over the last year, both because we don’t really need anything for this house and because I want to move as absolutely little as possible whenever that day comes.

There have been some exceptions when I find deals on a Facebook swap that are too good to pass up, but those have been rare.

But what’s a girl to do when she stumbles across a rug she spotted in someone’s Instagram over a year ago but had all but given up hope of ever finding?

Because that’s totally what happened the other night as Shaun and I were at Home Depot sans kids (thanks, Mom!), and I stopped dead in my tracks and squeaked: “There it IS!”

You see, after I spotted a pic of the rug, I asked the Instagrammer for the deets, but she didn’t know because it wasn’t her rug. A fellow commenter was nice enough to let me know that Home Depot carried it, which…obviously turned out to be true. But at the time, I couldn’t find it online or in stores anywhere.

So, I buried that (oh-so-worthy) dream and forgot about it.

Until Monday night, that is.

Y’all. I have to give major props to Shaun on this one. He stood there with me and stared at it for 10 straight minutes as I went through every room in the new house debating whether it would go well here or be big enough/too big there. He even had an associate open up a runner so that I could see it in smaller form (the 5X7 was the only one displayed, and it didn’t even have my favorite part of the rug–the pink flowers–on it). He was super sweet and patient and did an Oscar-worthy job of seeming interested for a man who doesn’t give a rip about rug designs.

Ultimately, I decided that a) I wasn’t sure whether it would skew too traditional for the couple of spaces it might work (namely: the girls’ play room or my craft room), and b) it was the wrong size for the places that it made the most sense.

And we left.

But that darn rug nagged at me for the next 24 hours. Why? Because we didn’t have enough chutzpah to have the big version (8X10.6) opened to look at in person. And I knew that, until I saw it in person in my house, I wouldn’t know FOR SURE whether it was the rug for me/the new house.

Can we say “overthinker?” Yes, yes, we can.

So, the next day, the twins + Theo and I went back to Home Depot while the older kids were at piano lessons. Clearly, I was serious about this rug. I mean, I didn’t buy it while I had no kids + a husband to help me haul it, and then I dragged 3 littles across a SCORCHING parking lot (East Texas: any time you want to cool down juuuuuust a smidge will be fine with me) into a big box store where I loaded up a large rug on a small cart and proceeded to make a spectacle of myself getting it into the back of the van. Thank goodness for the nice lady who noticed me sweating through my clothes in my efforts to work it over the top of the seats, and thank goodness for her being nice enough to ignore the messy back of my van. (I couldn’t help but mentally chuckle at her: “I had 3 little kids once too; bless your heart.” If she only knew )

ANYhoo, I got it home and set it up in the sitting room upstairs to see how I liked it, and…I do.

Like it, that is.

A lot.

In fact, if all of it looked like this part, I would LUUURVE it without reservation. But that whole: “Is it too traditional?” question keeps niggling at my mind–mostly because of the deep red + yellow. Nothing so inherently traditional about them. That’s just how they strike me.

Which is where you guys come in. What do you think? Am I crazy for worrying about it so much? (Let’s go with yes, and move on).

Do you think it gives off a funky/happy/Anthro vibe or…more of a Pottery Barn feel? (Nothing wrong with either; I’m just going for the former over the latter).

In case you’re lost on what I mean by funky vs. traditional, the pic on the left below is my favorite view of the rug, mostly because those pink flowers against the teal just make me happy and have a slightly modern feel to them. The picture on the right focuses on the darker, more traditional-looking patterns and colors, and I’m not as in love with it.

It’s like it’s a split-personality rug. At least in my strange mind.

So, the question is: could you picture this rug in a girls’ room or craft room? I, personally, think it’s a better fit for a dining or living room, but it’s too small for either in the new house.

Ugh. The first-world, extremely insignificant problems I have to do deal with, y’all.

Oh! And just in case you’re wondering, it’s NOT wool, so it won’t be a beast to vacuum, and it’s quite thick and cushy/comfy underfoot.

Honestly, when I ask you guys for your advice, I’m usually leaning one direction or another. Sometimes your feedback sways me. Sometimes, I stand firm.

Many (many) moons ago, I polled you guys about some changes I wanted to make to our breakfast nook. And then, I posted a little update on the direction I wanted to take. At which point, it looked like this:

Everything was too brown. The rug was the wrong shape. The shades (as much as I love them) kept a lot of light from getting in. I knew all of these things. But making this particular, seldom-used room a priority just wasn’t happening at the time.

Well, I’ve gradually made progress on lightening up the entire space (most notable progress shots from my Thanksgiving spread last year), but, after 2 years (!!) of baby changes, the biggest (and, in my mind, best) thing I’ve done for this space took approximately 20 minutes.

I’ve wanted to paint that table for, like, ever (insert: hair flip) but, if I don’t have a definite plan, I’ll procrastinate for ages. I knew I wanted to make it lighter, but I couldn’t decide what color or what kind of paint–whether to go with chalk paint and distress or to prime first and then give it a solid coat or…

And then there was the issue of actually buying the paint/brushes, etc. I have lots of that stuff lying around, but I wanted it to be perfect.

Until, suddenly, I decided that my desire for perfection was killing all of my progress, and, one day, a few weeks ago, in a burst of: oh, let’s just do this, already! energy, I grabbed a brush and a quart of sample paint I had lying around, and brushed on two coats lickety split–even though I should have been studying my Combat notes and getting the kids up from naps to get ready for the gym.

Miraculously, I squeaked in the door on time to teach class, AND I had a painted table. Well, table-top, anyway.

And you know what?

I love it.

I still need to apply a third coat to even out the streaks and then seal it with wax to prevent (most of the) scratches. But the way it brightens up the space is enough to make me roll my eyes at all of my feet-dragging for the last 2 years.

As the Nester says, “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.”

If you were paying any attention to the “plan,” you’ll notice that I deviated from it a fair bit. What can I say? That’s how I roll. (A fitting, if cheesy, phrase considering my love for paint rollers).

Other than the painted tabletop, those pale blue Anthro chairs are making my pulse jump the most. I have three more that we’ll use around the dining table in the new house, but I couldn’t very well leave them all languishing in boxes when I had a space for them now, could I? (Don’t answer that).

Not only because vintage fans are just rad in general but because I got that bad boy for FREE (they can easily cost $60). I bought a bunch of vintage doors from a lady (they’ll be scattered throughout the new house for pops of character/architecture) and spotted the fan in all its grimy, rusty glory in a corner. The lady shrugged and said, “I don’t even know if it works, but you’re welcome to it.”

Turns out it does, and after 20 minutes of baking soda, vinegar, and elbow grease, it’s actually a bit of a looker (the “plan” is to give her another scrub or two, but…yeah…don’t hold your breath).

Oh! And can we talk about how much I love this Paris Flower Market box?

Even Shaun thought it was super cool. (And his attitude, in general, about my bringing home fun finds is: “Oh great. Another thing we’ll have to move.”)

I spotted it as I was finishing up a solo trip to Ross, courtesy of my annual Mother’s Day night out alone, and, even though I’d already gone all the way through the epic line, I snatched it up ready to do it all over again. Thankfully, the clerk let me slip back into line since I’d barely gotten out of it and rang it up for me lightning fast. No one threw eggs at my van as I was pulling away, so I’m going to assume that nobody much noticed. Or maybe they were just fresh out of eggs.

ANYhoo, as much as I’m finding it a bit demotivating to decorate my current space WHILE planning for the next one, I’m so much happier with how the breakfast nook looks now that I thought I’d share.

Oooh, and speaking of sharing, take a gander at the 20 mint condition vintage teacups and saucers that I scored for $20!

Now, who wants to come over and sip tea with me? (Or maybe lemonade. I’m not a big hot tea fan).

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Hi, I’m Abbie, and M is for Mama is an unapologetic ode to messy, maddening, miraculous motherhood. It’s also where I share my favorite non-M-related passions–like thrifting, endless furniture and knickknack rearranging, exercising, baking yummy treats, putting together ridiculously cheap outfits, hot-glue crafting, and typing out my deep (and not-so-deep) thoughts…almost always with one of my 5 children on or near me. I love Jesus, good grammar, and ho-cho (which I don’t get to drink nearly as often as I’d like in the muggy, pine tree forests of East Texas). (I also love parentheses). (Can you tell?). I hope you’ll stick around and share what you love too! Read more here.